The invention concerns generally a package for a plurality of can-type containers and more particularly a package for a large plurality of such containers, for example 12, which can be carried comfortably and reliably.
A typical multipackage for can-type containers, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,874,835 and 3,874,502, includes a sheet plastic device having a plurality of integrally interconnected bands creating apertures equal in number to the number of containers to be packaged thereby adapted to be placed about the tops of containers so that the bands resiliently engage the top portions directly adjacent the chime or enlarged lid portion of the containers. Such carrier devices have been found to be convenient and highly advantageous in packaging groups of containers numbering six or less. More recently, this concept has been suggested for integrally packaging larger numbers of containers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,331 shows such an integral carrier device for packaging 12 containers.
Other efforts to package containers in numbers more than six have typically included paperboard or plastic film totally overwrapping 12 loose containers. These techniques are generally complicated and expensive to apply and either completely package or completely unpackage the containers.
In packaging a large number of containers, such as 12, it has been found that such a package, as created by prior art techniques, is rather large, heavy and cumbersome to be easily handled.
It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide a package which is easy to handle and which minimizes the risk of accidental removal of one or more containers from the package without requiring a total encapsulation of the array of containers.
A further object of this invention is to provide a package of 12 or more containers which is tightly unitized and which presents an easily handled package which may be readily identified relative to packages of lesser numbers of similar containers.
In keeping with these objects, the invention will be shown to basically include an upper carrier device retaining all or selected numbers of the top regions of the containers and a second carrier device spaced from and totally unconnected to the first device consisting of a resilient band encircling the array and which includes an integral handle. The package is so designed that the package can be carried without producing a force on any or all of the cans tending to remove them from the first package making device.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein: